孤儿匹普从小由姐姐抚养，受雇于贵族郝薇香，并且爱上了她的养女艾丝黛拉，一心想成为"上等人"。他小时候好心搭救的一名逃犯在国外发财致富，为报答救命之恩，巧妙安排他去伦敦接受上等教育，进入上流社会。然而命运并不与匹普的希望接轨：艾丝黛拉另嫁他人，逃犯被擒，遗产充公，匹普的"远大前程"转眼化为泡影。整部小说情节扣人心弦又感人至深，希望由萌生而至幻灭的过程唤起一代又一代读者的共鸣。不少西方评论家将其推崇为狄更斯最出色的作品。(The orphan Pip was raised by his sister and employed by the noble Havishams. He fell in love with her daughter Estella and wanted to be a gentleman. A fugitive who he had kindly saved in his childhood got rich abroad, cleverly arranged him to go to London for education and entering society to repay his grace. But fate broke his hope: Estella married with other, the fugitive was arrested and heritage was confiscated, Pip's "great expectations" suddenly vanished like soap bubbles. The whole novel plot was heart-thrilling and deeply touching, the process from hope birth till disillusionment has evoked the resonance of generations of readers. Many western critics have praised it as the best work of Dickens.)